Penmellyn Vets in St Columb, Cornwall, this year’s overall winner of the BestUKVets 2017 award, was presented with their trophy by the Major, founder of VetHelpDirect, Susie Samuel.

During her presentation speech, Susie highlighted the tremendous effort that the clinic obviously made to put client care at the heart of the practice, “Penmellyn vets received 839 reviews, which is the highest ever number of reviews for any practice in the entire history of BestUKVets. This is a fantastic achievement and incredibly well deserved, it’s been a great day and a real honour to meet everyone and present the award”.

Penmellyn partner Philip Harris, who accepted the award on behalf of the St Columb Major clinic, addressed the 50 strong audience, “This is a real honour for Penmellyn Vets and I know that all the directors are immensely proud of the work that we do here. It really is thanks to all the hard work from our staff and the excellent care that they take of our clients and their pets every day”.

As well as storming to victory with the title of BestUKVets 2017, Penmellyn Vets equine team also received the award for Best Equine Vets. Susie Samuel presented the certificate to director Ruth Varcoe who received it on behalf of the equine team.

In honour of this prestigious event, the decision was taken to close the doors to all the Penmellyn Vets branch practices between 11 am and 2 pm (bar emergency appointments and in-patient care), to enable as many as possible from the wider team to attend.

Keen not to forget the practice’s four-legged clients, invites were also extended to clients’ pets and honorary canine team members – who also turned out for the big day.

One client, Jane Dyer, who had taken the time to leave a review, commented at the award ceremony, “I joined the practice in the mid-80s and have been with them ever since. They are such a friendly and amazing team and are always very compassionate and caring - they really are just a lovely caring bunch”.